Mad Hunger
by COLM
Summary: Bella, on her own, finds herself in grave peril only to be rescued by the most unlikely of saviors. Romance, intrigue and adventure await in this tale of two people and their love.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1: IN WHICH WE MEET OUR CHARACTERS**

Bella screamed. She wasn't sure that it was the best thing to do under the circumstances, but it was all she could do. The beast lurking in the shadows growled back at her. Of all the ways to go, getting mauled by a bear was one she did not expect, given her recent forays into the dangerous world of vampires and werewolves. As she backed into a tree, she wished that she hadn't broken things off with Edward earlier that night. If she hadn't he might be with her instead of sulking by himself.

"Edward! Someone, anyone! HELP!" Bella screamed.

The ravenous beast slowly advanced, a mad glint in its eyes the only sign that belied its true hunger. Bella debated running, but realized that there was nothing she could do. This was it. This was the end. As she gave in to her dark realizations Bella became aware of a distant rumbling of the earth. Both Bella and the bear paused as the shaking grew closer and closer.

Bella watched as a dark form suddenly burst forth from the earth and almost seemed to envelope the bear. She sat in awe as the newly risen titan wrestled with an almost imperceptible grace with the hairy beast. The two forms fought for control of the fight, each gaining and losing ground, one fighting for life and death, and the other reveling in the glory of the sport. Bella only cried out once, when the bear managed to brace itself against a tree and made to bite at the throat of the other combatant.

"Look out!" Bella cried, a useless comment in the throes of battle.

Her muscular savior sighed. Suddenly there was a horrendous crashing noise and part of the tree along with a large section of the bear's leg were just missing. As the tree finally came to rest Bella looked up to see the dark figure silently standing over the bear, ensuring that the once noble beast received the death it deserved. Once its work was done, the massive figure turned to approach Bella.

Her mind was racing. Nothing that she knew of, no werewolf, no vampire, could have performed the feats that she just witnessed. The still moonlight glinted off teeth as her savior approached her in silence. Surely it couldn't be a hybrid, she thought. There's no way a half-vampire half-werewolf would be allowed to live. It was the only explanation she could come up with, though. The figure finally stepped into a patch of moonlight and revealed himself to the stunned Bella.

He stood no taller than an average human. Muscles rippled underneath his pale grey skin, resplendent with the occasional dark purple stripe. His glistening maw stood out the most, filled with row upon row of jagged teeth still dripping blood. A dark fin protruded from his back. His eyes were set far back in his head, above a monstrous snout. He was wearing leather gloves, dark jeans and what appeared to be some form of roller blades.

Bella stood in awe of the glorious being in front of her. He seemed to possess almost incalculable strength, yet his muscular figure was not grotesque. His eyes looked into hers, and she got lost in the sheer humanity omnipresent in those glittering orbs. He smiled, somehow, with that fearsome mouth of his.

"Hi there. My name's Streex. What's yours?", he asked in a deep, gentle voice, nothing like the garbled elocutions she expected.

"Bella. My name's Bella."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2: THE MOST SECOND CHAPTER IN THE WHOLE STORY**

Hunger. Hungry. Nothing stopped the hunger. Nothing stopped it.

People freak out when I tell them this, but I'm a giant shark. Usually I don't even get a chance to tell them that I'm a giant shark because they're already freaking out. Sometimes people's eyes inform them that I'm a giant shark, and then they start to freak out, and then I can't even talk to them. I can't even tell them I'm a giant shark. I don't even have that privilege.

There are some days when I wish the whole thing hadn't happened. The lab, the professor... all my brothers, stuck in the lab, with the professor... me and all my brothers, strapped to the cold, metal table in the lab, with a laser beam, controlled by the evil professor, that laser beam, staring us down... A giant science experiment. In one brief moment, I'd lost it all. I went from the top of the social ladder to the world's biggest freak.

Literally.

The only good part about being a shark was that it gave me strange and mystical abilities. I can swim... through pavement... and I can eat just about anything. I can also sense when people were in trouble. I like to think I always had that sense. I try to attribute as much as I can to my human self, if only to make me feel, for a minute, that if all this had never happened I would still be proud of who I am. Proud of being a normal guy instead of a half-shark hybrid. But it's hard to keep up that lie. There's so much I can do as a shark that I could never have done as a human. A mixed blessing.

I was cutting through the pavement one day, slicing through the ground like it was soft cheese. I had that sense again. The sense that someone was in trouble. I arrived on the scene with no time to lose.

A bear attacking a young girl. At least, I thought it was a girl. It could have been anyone, all I cared about was eating that bear. I was so hungry. Nothing could satiate this hunger. That's mostly the shark half's fault, but again, I like to think some part of that is my own teenage guy personality. As my stomach took the wheel, my brain took a back seat. I barely even realized the girl shouted, "Look out!"

I sunk my teeth into the bear and the tree behind him. We were in a forest, by the way, because that's where trees live. I like forests more than the ocean, fun fact.

After ensuring that the bear was toast, I turned to the girl, the very same girl who had almost been the bear's lunch.

I knew she would probably freak out any second now because I'm a giant shark and people don't like those. I decided to give cordiality a shot anyhow. "Hi there. My name isStreex. What's yours?"

"Bella," she replied, "My name's Bella."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPAPTER TREE**

**IN WHICH WE LEARN OF BELLA'S TRUE FEELINGS**

Bella was still feeling light in the head after her whole ordeal. Streex explained to her exactly what had happened to him and what he was doing in her neck of the woods.

"So you're trying to find a cure to this… this affliction you have?"

"I was. But Doctor Paradigm drugged me and my brothers and I just woke up here. I sensed your danger and came to help. I don't know where my brothers are, though."Streex sighed.

Bella mused quietly on her situation. She wasn't sure if she ever wanted Streex to become just another normal boring human. The only way to make sure that never happened was to find this cure first and destroy it. Her mind was made up, then. She'll stick with Streex, and he will be hers.

"Oh, you poor dear. You're welcome to stay with me while we look for your brothers. I'll even enlist the help of some of my friends to look for them and this Doctor Paradigm of yours."

"Really! That'd be just great!" Streex picked up Bella and held her to his chest gingerly, yet the passion of his hug was evident. Bella leaned into his soft, rubbery skin and just breathed in his scent, one similar to the ocean after a fresh rain. As he put her back down she noticed he was looking at her wistfully.

"Streex, what's the matter?"

"I'm sorry, nothing's the matter. I'm just so used to being treated like a monster I was almost starting to think I was one. You're the first person who's treated me like just any other guy."

"But you're not just any other guy, Streex. Not any guy would save a girl from danger like that. And it doesn't hurt that you actually seem to care. Come on, let's get going."

After Bella got home and gave Streex the use of her garage, she was relaxing in her room. She turned on some music and sat down at her desk when there was a knock on her door.

"Yes, Streex, come in." Bella said.

"Streex? Who's that?" Edward questioned as he entered the room mysteriously.

"Edward! What are you doing here! We broke up!" Bella shouted.

"I'm sorry, Bella, but it's your mother. She's in the hospital right now, losing copious amounts of blood." Edward proclaimed, a solemn but brooding look on his face.

"But… but how?"

"We don't know yet, but it appears to have been some sort of large animal attack."

Bella's mind raced like a NASCAR driver, only slightly less trashy. Could this have been the work of Streex or one of his brothers? Was he not telling her everything? It doesn't matter, she thought. I'll figure this out later. Right now, I've got to see my mom.

Bella left a note for Streex and then got into Edward's sleek but efficient car for the drive to the hospital.

"Edward?"

"Yes, Bella?"

"Would you and your family be able to do one last favor for me?"

"That depends, Bella. What is it that you require me to do?"

"I need you to track down and capture a man by the name of Dr. Paradigm. He has something very precious to me."

"I'll see what I can do."

They spent the rest of the ride in silence since nothing good was on the radio.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**: **THE MOST FOURTH CHAPTER IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE**

Bella was allowing me to sleep in her garage. I'd given up on wanting to be treated like a human. Every time I passed by a mirror, or a puddle, or Bella's boyfriend's sleek but efficient car, I was reminded of what I was.

A monster.

I didn't understand why she was helping me. All I knew was I felt a strange connection to this girl. Maybe it was because she was the first stranger to not freak out upon seeing me and hearing me talk. Maybe it was that hug I gave her, and how she didn't shrink away as my sharkskin abraded her arms. Maybe it was something more.

I never really believed in destiny, but the events of the past week had thrown everything I believed in into a harsh light anyhow. As I looked around the garage filled with lawn mowers, skis, lawn mowers, kites, some other stuff... I was reminded of all the things I did as a human. Mowing the lawn... going skiing... flying kites... driving a car...

That's right, Bella had gotten into the car with her boyfriend and driven away. "Damn," I thought, "She has a boyfriend."

Suddenly the hunger came back again... I needed food badly. There was food in the house. I didn't think.

Totally disregarding the hospitality of the one girl who treated me like a person, I chomped down the steel door to her house and forced my way inside. There I hit the jackpot: cupboards and pantries lined with food that nobody cared about. Prune juice and cream of chicken galore. I started tearing away at everything I could see. My human self felt regret, but my shark self was making my mind reel. So much stuff to eat. I didn't even bother opening the refrigerator, I just swallowed the whole thing.

While my shark self was trying to take in the fact that he'd just eaten a whole refrigerator, my human self came screaming back to reality. A wash of guilt just fell over me. What had I done? I stared through my huge, ravenous eyes at the destruction I'd caused. What would Bella do when she saw this?

Panicked, ashamed, my first instinct was to run. But I couldn't run. Bella might be my only hope of catching Doctor Paradigm. And besides that... I didn't want to see her hurt, but I didn't want to say goodbye to her. Not yet. Good God, why did I have to do this to the one person who cared? Who gave a damn?

I fell to my knees. I wanted to cry, but sharks, being saltwater beings, don't have tear ducts and don't cry. I just kind of crouched there, whimpering with my huge toothy jaws. A monster in pain must be a terrible sight.

A sight that Bella would see, right as she walked in the door...


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**IN WHICH MUCH HANKY PANKY OCCURS**

After ensuring that her mother was in stable condition, Bella had Edward drive her home.

"You can just drop me off here, I don't want you scaring Streex with your penetrating stare."

"Fine, Bella."

Bella approached her house slowly, having noticed that her door was just missing, apparently torn from the hinges. Oh god, she thought. Did something happen toStreex? Bella rushed inside not knowing what she'd find. She did not expect to find Streex kneeling on the floor, rocking back and forth, with a look of anguish on his supple face.

"Oh god, Streex, what's wrong?"

"I'm so sorry Bella, I haven't told you everything. I've... I've got a darker animal side to me. A side I can't completely control."

"What do you mean?", Bella asked, before seeing the absence of her refrigerator. "Oh. That's... that's fine, I guess."

"Really? Most people would be angry with me."

"Eh, we kinda needed to get a new one anyway. Come on, let's get you cleaned up. My friend's got his pals looking for Paradigm as we speak."

"Just your friend, huh?"

"Yes, silly! We totally broke up earlier."

"Oh, in that case..." Streex grinned, "Bella, I like you. I really like you, and I understand if you don't think it could work with some... something like me, but please, please, give me a chance."

Bella paused to collect her thoughts. Streex possessed a certain sensitivity that Edward didn't. He also never went off and brooded. Sure, he might have an appetite, but Bella loved to cook. This could work if she just gave it a try.

"Okay, Streex. I like you too. It's not going to be easy, but we can work through our differences."

"What about Edward?"

"Oh, screw Edward. I've had it up to here with his mysteriousness and cryptic speeches. And honestly, all that glittering makes people think he's gay or something. I'm sure we'll have much more fun."

"If that's the case..." Streex grinned as he raped Bella to death.


End file.
